MY COLORADO

September 23 by Jennifer Reeder

Photo: Jennifer
Reeder.

In August of last
year, my boyfriend and I moved to Durango because we always wanted to live
in the mountains of Colorado. Less than a month after our move, the
September 11 attacks occurred, and we found ourselves spending more and
more time outside. We hiked, fished and camped, and tried to find solace
in nature. Sometimes, we did.

On September 23, we decided to climb
our first "fourteener," Handies Peak. Our trail guide said it was a
relatively easy fourteener, aside from the altitude. As we huffed and
puffed our way up, it didn't seem "easy." We crossed paths with an elderly
couple and a man with a prosthetic leg—people who had much less difficult
times with their ascents.

Despite our poor conditioning, we
struggled on past chirping marmots and an inviting lake. The last
half-mile took a long time, but when we finally reached the summit, we
were rewarded with incredible views of the San Juan Range. But what
brought me to tears was that a hiker before us had erected a small,
slightly tattered American flag at the top of Handies Peak—a tribute to
America's solidarity in the face of national tragedy.

It wouldn't
surprise me if all of Colorado's 54 fourteeners had similar tributes that
day.

Jennifer Reeder is a Durango-based freelance journalist and
frequent contributor to The Durango Herald.

Do you have a special memory or humorous story about living in
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